Brilliance

The Brilliance Trilogy, Book 1

By: Marcus Sakey

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

In Wyoming, a little girl reads people’s darkest secrets by the way they fold their arms. In New York, a man sensing patterns in the stock market racks up $300 billion. In Chicago, a woman can go invisible by being where no one is looking. They’re called "brilliants," and since 1980, one percent of people have been born this way. Nick Cooper is among them; a federal agent, Cooper has gifts rendering him exceptional at hunting terrorists. His latest target may be the most dangerous man alive, a brilliant drenched in blood and intent on provoking civil war. But to catch him, Cooper will have to violate everything he believes in - and betray his own kind.

From Marcus Sakey, "a modern master of suspense" (Chicago Sun-Times) and "one of our best storytellers" (Michael Connelly), comes an adventure that’s at once breakneck thriller and shrewd social commentary; a gripping tale of a world fundamentally different and yet horrifyingly similar to our own, where being born gifted can be a terrible curse.

©2013 Marcus Sakey (P)2013 Brilliance Audio

Action and sci-fi and mystery oh my

Enjoyed this book very much. Great story that moved along well and kept my interest throughout. I found the premise of this story intriguing and very believable. The suberb performance is a big plus.

It was pretty good not great

I enjoyed the book but didn't love it.
The premise was interesting. The plot development felt stunted at places.

Sensual prose, engorssing technological thriller

You can't go wrong with this book if you love good writing and technological thrillers, like Daemon. The writing uses all of the senses, and describes one detail that sets the scene perfectly without boring the reader.

The technology is cutting-edge and interesting; the characters full and deep and engaging.

Will buy the next one immediately--can't wait for credits!

Couldn't put it down

I was in the mood for an easy read during a busy week of work. This was indeed an easy read, as I couldn't put it down. I'm going to say this is a paranormal romantic adventure. I was thinking that I wouldn't be surprised to see this on the big screen, so I looked it up to find that it is in pre-production. It's packed full of action, adventure, and (if your in the mood to read between the lines) a few deep thoughts. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm putting #2 in the series in my cart as soon as this review is submitted.

much better than expected

I found it well narrated and engaging. I pretty much binged it and will listen to the rest of the,seies. It is predictable about 60 percent of the time.

Fast-paced and entertaining

This is a solid 4-star book across the board. It's a fun, fast-paced story that doesn't get bogged down by detail or overblown drama. The characters are interesting and diverse, but the author sometimes indulged himself a little too much when making the main character a tough guy. The world created is fun and imaginative, but there are some logic loopholes in the technology and how it's used. The plot is a bit twisty but also a bit predictable. Luke Daniels does a great job narrating, but I have to admit, I like him more in the Iron Druid books.

If you're looking for something deep and meaningful, this isn't it. If you're looking for an entertaining story that will make a long drive pass by quickly, this will do the trick. I look forward to the rest of the series!

Love it.

kept you listening. rounded characters. interesting. current references. Will get the other books to see what happens!!

Could happen

The best, and scariest, stories are those that could actually happen. Savants aren`t common, but they could be....someday. What would the world be like if most people had special abilities rather than special needs? This books gives a glimps into what that world might look like.

Still great on the second round

I don’t know anything wrong with this story - except: why wouldn’t you copy the flash drive at the end - but other than that it is just one long clever thrill ride. Oh and the narration is also brilliant

A story of the perils of human evolution!

If you've read Childhood ' s End, by Arthur C Clarke (not seen the TV mini-series, which was not a good representation of the book), while this trilogy takes a completely different direction, is well done and frankly very close to Clarke's. In that I mean in quality, presenting a situation where we have to solve this dilemma, without the aid of aliens, without losing our children, and frankly it does a great job of pulling off such a tough problem. Not to mention that when this trilogy started it hadn't been discovered that homo sapiens and australopithecus actually weren't enemies, in fact they frequently lived together and even, "mixed." Other forces lead to their extension, not conflict. There is even evidence that early man was much less violent! Note Clarke didn’t know this either. However, Marcus Sakey seems to be more on point on this. While this trilogy begins several years ago (which foolish lead me to believe it would be complete, however, I had to wait till early Jan. 2016 for the final installment), so expect there maybe elements a bit out of date, but that in no way hurts the narrative! on this subject, the books are narrated by Luke Daniels, who is one of the better narrators you'll find! Three dimensional characters, a seat of your pants adventure, and an extremely plausible story are just some of the interesting points. Not to mention villains that would make Bond run for cover, even extremely moving emotional elements! If you aren't looking only for a space adventure, this is a great read!